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Zaquiri Misraaria
Early Life Born in the slums of Zirkaaynin, Zaquiri Ulataraz (Za-key-ree U-lataraz) Showed a proficiency in poisons in her ability to use the various fungi that grew on street corners to poison a group of Parasitic Bruisers who were giving her trouble, causing their deaths. She developed in the hard life of drow existence and like many developed an 'every drow for themselves' mindset and, also like many others, she grew up by default capable. Early Career She was spotted by a member of House Misraaria, Hekaari Yurish Zandraaki- both a priestess of Shax, and a fleshwarper- she put the young Zaquiri to work - but gave her free reign on what she worked on. She was given access to the stores of Misraaria (One of the great houses of Zirkaaynin, known for their use of proficiency with poisons.) with the caveat she would belong to the house for the rest of her life and would serve at the house-mistress' command, she of course agreed- house life was the only way to live semi-safely in the gods forsaken city. She pioneered quite a few things- one of the things that caused her to gain rank and title was her quick grasp of fleshwarping- surpassing Hekaari quickly and becoming the best in the house- surpassing many in house Parasitic (The house known for their premier fleshwarpers. Fleshwarping is the use of a mixture of dark magic and alchemy to alter one's physical form. It is what created the driders initially.) And with this skill she had an idea- an army of servitors would serve the house (And her own, privately.) While she worked on this, she innovated what she called Dark-bloom Lotus, a poison so vile it gave her the moniker of Lady Venomblood- it would use chemical agents- cursed with bound quasits (Small demonic entities) reduced to tiny size, who would use their innate magic to then turn the opponents blood to a magma-like stew, and their flesh to a puddle. Only one has, since it's creation, survived being exposed to it. Soon, she'd created her masterwork- a drider with altered variables - The name she gave her was Chaquiri- and she would be the test of the concept. The idea was to enhance driders with a magically inscribed compulsion to obey- and to increase the speed at which they lay eggs drastically- as an additional trait their webs would be acidic to the touch, allowing them to form fences against opposition. The frequency with which broodmothers would be spawned was also to be altered. In short, it would be apocalyptic if this design came to pass. Unfortunately for Zaquiri- Hekaari was incensed by the success of the one she'd brought to the house, how much she'd outdone her, so she used her demonic contacts to possess Zaquiri and then to manipulate her into incriminating herself- for this she was sentenced to death and her designs fell to Hekaari to use. Luckily, Chaquiri- loyal as designed, was able to sneak herself into the prison within which Zaquiri was kept and free her, after which they escaped the city and began their sojourn elsewhere- the underdark wasn't safe, they knew...The Duergar would be unhelpful, they would be bound and, honestly, probably raped if they sought refuge with those vile grey dwarves so they knew they had to go somewhere else...the surface beckoned, and so they set off. Journey to the Surface The trip toward the surface took many weeks for the odd pair, Zaquiri having fled with little of her own possessions- so she improvised. Despite the dangers of the underdark, she was a drow and so she was capable of much when brought low- and one who can create poisons from the average mushrooms one encounters on a street corner meant she was always a threat. She visited a neutral Duergar and deep-gnome outpost on a popular tradeway, where she was given a task by the town's leading authority- go slay a slumbering worm far to the west- she accepted this task, but then simply killed said authority figure- sneaking into his mansion after the act- she'd killed him in the town hall via poison gas she had let out. Once at his home, she scoured it for valuables- of which there was much and found one curious object- a serrated dirk of black steel with veins of red light upon it's surface- this would come to be her signature weapon when it came to the need to kill with a blade. She left the place with prized gems and what gold she could carry and fled the city- they were suffering a strange outbreak of vomiting from the lower class, and the water supply seemed to be poisoned. As Zaquiri strode into the wilderness, she grinned with glee. Havoc was always a joy. Emergence Now she came up into a series of ancient sewage lines- She encountered a strange being in her travels- and one quite frightening....a serpentine linnorm dwelling within a pool of water on the second level of the underbelly beneath the sewers. He proclaimed himself as Zalathrax the mighty and demanded tribute and homage. Now, Drow do not bow to anyone~ unless of course to not do would be foolish- she offered the choicest of the gems she bore, and offered to keep his location a secret, stating she would ensure the odd vagrant did not trouble him, then she clarified. "I despise vagrants." Zalathrax accepted her offer and allowed her to scale the ladder dangling from the ceiling, her drider servitor following behind with much difficulty- in passing she asked "And ...you wouldn't happen to want to part with some of your blood~" She got a terrible stare and kept on her way. Shortly afterward, she reached the sewers level, where she found an immense, black pool- within which churned life. She knew the peril but pulled out a vial and scooped up, carefully a bit of the waters and then she motioned for Chaquiri and she to leave, spitting in the pool as she ran with the water bursting up as she exited the room. She then rose up, and up- until she encountered a gang of leering thugs. She let Chaquiri kill them, save one who she told "Tell your leader that he must now pay me a tribute of silver for the right to operate in my underbelly." She then left him to lay there with the remains of his friends splayed about him. She then emerged a little bit later, into what she immediately knew to be the slums. She could be noted as having scowled disdainfully, but knew this would be where she dwelt to begin with, she had to shield her eyes, hissing in pain as the sun beat down upon her. In classic drow fashion she gathered her self respect and pomp and looked to the sky scournfully- she was blinded for a time but she had met her foe- this was the first blow before her victory. She skulked through shadowed alleys- the presence of her monstrous guardian keeping the odd vagrant away. She spotted a large, three story structure with passable structural integrity and approached. She knocked, then stood back. It opened a moment later, and a man staggered out, saying "'Ey...Whut're you..? You here to fi-i-..." He stared at Chaquiri, terror in his clearly drunken gaze as Zaquiri stated "No, Surfacer, I aim to acquire a new residence." She pushed him aside and strode inside the building, her own blackened leather armor- the standard for any drow worth their salt- she'd had it commissioned in the dwarven city before coming up here. She noticed immediately this was an unofficial fighting ring of sorts- there was a large stone chamber as the entrance area, and a doorway leading to the back where she saw a stairway leading down and one up. The venom-hearted drow went to the stairway, the few in the lobby watched her go- one, an elf shouted "A drow! What are you doing here heartless shrew~?" Zaquiri looked at the man and raised an eyebrow, she motioned for Chaquiri, who strode toward the man, towering over him- she reached down and with her unnatural strength heaved him up by the hair, then bit him on the shoulder as she struggled painfully, the fangs of the drider unleashed their special venom, which caused the man to freeze in intense paralysis. Zaquiri motioned for him to be brought along as they went to and descended the stairs. At the bottom was a smallish chamber and this was clearly not much of an establishment, just a fighting ring. Few had weapons. She motioned to Chaquiri to wait just a moment as they neared the bottom of the stairs, and the man's neck began to ooze a greenish haze. Once at the base, she twitched her hand giving the signal at which point Chaquiri let the man loose- and he noisily tumbled down the steps where his wound began to spew it's foul miasma. Zaquiri shouted "PLAGUE! FLEE, FRIENDS, FOR IT WILL INFECT YOU TOO." this got everyone's attention immediately, and they saw the cloud of foul gas- and were so scared they ignored the drow woman standing there, just a black elf, nothing too big to them. There was, luckily for her a secondary exit -through which they all streamed out, the fighters included- in seconds the only one left in the room was a man behind a wooden counter. She shot him a threatening look, approached and said "Leave. For your safety, of course, as she brandished her blade- the man's eyes widened further and he scurried out- once he was gone, she barred that door and went back up the stairs, where the three left in the lobby cowered in a corner with Chaquiri watching over them. Zaquiri then asked them politely what one of their names were, he began in a nearly unbearable dribble of poor speech at which point she cut him off, her thin veneer of kindness gone, before she asked them who was the go to for magic services on the sly, and such and the environment of the city- she begin today taking this city by storm, and eventually, no matter how long it took, she would have her revenge on all those who had dared to overstep. All those who offended would suffer greatly. She waved the people off, then pointed down the stairs- Chaquiri retrieved the paralyzed man, and told Chaquiri- force him into the shape of a chair, I want to sit... Establishing oneself The Heroes' Patronage Moving up in the world Category:Non-player Characters